On Media

WHCA stands 'in solidarity' with AP, Rosen

Ed Henry, the Fox News correspondent and president of the White House Correspondents' Association, emails the following statement to POLITICO on behalf of the WHCA's nine board members:

We want to make clear that we agree with President Obama, as quoted at today's press briefing by Jay Carney, that all of us in journalism should be able to do our jobs 'in a free and open way.'

Carney went on to say that 'if you're asking me whether the president believes that journalists should be prosecuted for doing their jobs, the answer is no.'

Indeed, reporters should never be threatened with prosecution for the simple act of doing their jobs. The problem is that in two recent cases, one involving Fox News' James Rosen and the other focused on the Associated Press, serious questions have been raised about whether our government has gotten far too aggressive in its monitoring of reporters' movements, phone records, and even personal email.

We do not know all of the facts in these cases, so we will just say this in general: Our country was founded on the principle of freedom of the press and nothing is more sacred to our profession. So we stand in strong solidarity with our colleagues who have been scrutinized. And in terms of the administration, ultimately what will matter more in all of these cases is action not words.

Note: BuzzFeed had reported on the WHCA' s silence over the AP and Rosen controversies early Tuesday afternoon.